The Champions League is Europe’s (and probably the world’s) premier club football competition.
Each season 32 teams compete against each other in the group stages, with one of those aiming to defend their title. This year Bayern Munich are the team seeking to retain their trophy.
We’ve assessed the odds of Bayern defending the Champions League, looking at what’s said by leading sports casino sites and assessing the state of their squad.
What odds are being offered by casino sites?
Casino sites are the logical place to begin when talking about the odds of Bayern Munich successfully defending their Champions League.
Because whether or not you want to bet on Bayern, this is your foundation for making an informed decision on what they might achieve — it’s head over heart.
The reason for this is that casinos literally make their money from posting the odds for football games, especially the biggest ones and there’s no more popular club game on the planet than the CL final.
We checked current odds offered by online casinos for the three favourites to win the 2020/21 Champions League. This is what they’re currently saying:
- Bet365: Bayern Munich (4/1); Manchester City (4/1); Liverpool (11/2)
- Paddy Power: Bayern Munich (4/1); Manchester City (4/1); Liverpool (11/2)
- Betfair: Bayern Munich (4/1); Manchester City (4/1); Liverpool (11/2)
What’s really interesting about these odds is that every single odds offers the exact same odds and each one makes Bayern the joint-favourites to win the Champions League.
But it’s really important to keep in mind we’re a long way off the final (29 May 2021) and that odds change all the time, even day by day.
To get Bayern’s latest odds, we advise you to look at this site to find gambling that offer Champions League betting. These include casino sites like the ones we’ve mentioned above, but also others like Mr Green, Coral, and Betway.
Mr Green also allows you to bet on the winners of the Champions League groups (Bayern are 7/20) and the competition’s top scorer (Robert Lewandowski is the 5/1 favourite). Betway gives you the chance to place a range of wagers on the outcome of an individual match (you can bet on who will win Bayern’s first match, the correct score, and many other things.
So, the odds are in Bayern’s favour but that’s only the beginning of deciding if they’ll defend the CL. You also have to consider what their team looks like.
What state is the current Bayern Munich squad in?
Reviewing Bayern Munich’s squad is where you can use your own rational judgment to develop the odds of the club holding on to the CL final.
Because assessing the status of a team’s players goes beyond the form and fitness casino sites and odds aggregators use — it’s human interpretation over machine summaries.
The reason for this is that you need to look at players and ask whether they have more to give to the cause, particularly those at the beginning or end of their careers and any new additions.
We reviewed the squad and highlighted three players whose performance should be considered. These are the ones we picked
- Alphonso Davies: football’s best young left back and a generational talent
- Leroy Sané: established player of serious quality and with a point to prove
- Robert Lewandowski: greatest striker around and a peerless professional
What’s so tantalising about these players is that each one could go forwards or backwards, either raising the squad’s ceiling or closer to the sky or bringing it down towards the floor.
But it’s so difficult to know how to read with these things because so many variables go into player performances. Will Davies push on or will he struggle? Will Sané fit into the team or unbalance it? Will Lewandowski plunder goals at the same rate or drop off?
We advise you to watch this channel to get a feel for how the team is playing. What you’ll see is each of the three is contributing extremely effectively and the team looks at least as strong (despite losing their long unbeaten record).
So, Bayern’s defensive tyro is becoming a world beater, new signing has enhanced the team, and star man is just as focussed as during his terrifying 2019/20 campaign. You’d have to say the squad justifies the odds given to it by casino sites.
Conclusion: Bayern have good odds of defending the CL
Once upon a time it seemed impossible for a team to defend their Champions League title. Ajax, Juventus, and Man Utd all got various shades of close and Lionel Messi’s Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona really should have achieved it.
Then came Real Madrid.
They defended it once. Then again. Now Champions League retention is no longer a footballing unicorn, it’s a tale brought to life by the most successful team in competition’s history and a reality to aspire to.
Where does that leave Bayern?
The bookies think they can retain it. The players look like they can retain it. The odds of FC Hollywood writing their stardust-peppered script look pretty good.
We’ll even go so far as to say that casino sites are underplaying the odds of them retaining the trophy. They look light years ahead of Manchester City, which leads us to say that they’re odds-on favourites.
But there’s one thing we’re forgetting, “football, bloody hell.” Sport cannot be tamed, will not allow predictions to be carved in granite, and reserves the right to present results no sane individual would have bet on.
So, we just don’t know what the odds are. 4/1 seems pretty fair, but that changes instantly if Lewandowski is ruled out for the season.
What we suggest is that you check in with casino site odds, watch Bayern’s games, then use and review your own judgement as the season progresses. But also remember we said they’ll defend it — that’s the most important thing.
